Domestic worker union hits back over employer group’s pay freeze petition

A Hong Kong migrant domestic worker union has rebuked calls by employer groups for a pay freeze as it called for stronger protections. It said recent wage increases have failed to catch up with the rising cost of living. A foreign domestic worker at a training centre. File photo: Robert Godden. The Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions (FADWU) made the statement in response to a petition by the International Domestic Service Industry Development Federation and the Quadripartite Alliance for Harmonious Employment Practices (QAHEP) for a wage freeze earlier this week. FADWU said in a statement emailed to HKFP that wage increases of about 2 per cent have “never been enough to keep up with inflation… In effect, migrant domestic workers’ real wages have been decreasing for many years.” “This year the inflation rate is expected to be 2.6 per cent. People should justify in an objective manner how a wage freeze is reasonable,” the statement read. The union also noted that the current monthly food allowance of HK$1,236, which should be given to domestic workers if their employer does not provide free meals, has been frozen for two consecutive years. The freeze will be active until the end of September this year. Pay rises ‘strongly opposed’ On Saturday, the QAHEP released a survey finding that 97 per cent of employers were “strongly opposed” to pay rises for their domestic workers. They called for a pay freeze and for the food allowance to remain frozen, saying the domestic worker minimum wage increases of 7.8 per cent over the past three years have outpaced a 5.4 per cent rise in Hong Kong’s composite Consumer Price Index over that same period. Hong Kong’s Labour Department. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. The domestic workers union also described cases in which “extreme-low-income” families that hire domestic workers often exploit them with underpayment, or by not providing food or proper accommodation. Hong Kong currently requires households to make a minimum monthly family income of HK$15,000 to employ a domestic worker. A majority of employers have a family income above the median of HK$37,800 for a three-person household and HK$54,000 for a family of four, while families that barely meet the minimum income requirement are in the minority, the union added. “The care needs of low-income families who have not received government social service support cannot be achieved by abusing workers. They are forced to exploit domestic workers to meet these needs due to their own limited resources.” “We hope the government will review the HK$15,000 monthly family income eligibility criteria for employing domestic workers and increase social service support for these families,” the union said, suggesting that the government consider providing subsidies to families who need to hire domestic workers. The Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions (FADWU) urges Hong Kong authorities to raise the mininum wage for migrant domestic workers to HK$6,670 on July 5, 2026. Photo: Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions FADWU, via Facebook. The government “can subsidise them to hire migrant domestic workers to maintain their care needs, but please NOT by exploiting us,” the union said. The union called on the government to establish a three-way collective bargaining mechanism involving domestic workers, employers, and government officials, “allowing all three parties to discuss wages, food allowances, and other matters concerning employers and domestic workers simultaneously at the negotiating table in a reasonable manner.” Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team Support HKFP | Policies & Ethics | Error/typo? | Contact | Newsletter | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps Make a one-off donation. James Lee is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in culture and social issues. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Journalism from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he witnessed the institution’s transformation over the course of the 2019 extradition bill protests and after the passing of the Beijing-imposed security law. Since joining HKFP in 2023, he has covered local politics, the city’s housing crisis, as well as landmark court cases including the 47 democrats national security trial. He was previously a reporter at The Standard where he interviewed pro-establishment heavyweights and extensively covered the Covid-19 pandemic and Hong Kong’s political overhauls under the national security law. More by James Lee